Articles

Instagram has surpassed Twitter with 300 million registered users. Instagram is the image sharing app that has become increasingly popular in the last few years. The company has reported that users share 70 million photos and videos to the app every single day. It has certainly become one of the new places for photographers to interact with one another.

Landscape photographer Peter Lik has sold the most expensive photographic print ever to a private collector for the whopping price of $6.5 million. Previously, the most expensive photograph ever sold went for $4.3 million.

Backscatter Photo and Video have been publishing Lightroom guru Erin Quigley’s tutorials on their site. One of the recent posts features a tutorial dealing with correcting the white balance in an otherwise lovely image of a manta overhead. In the tutorial, Erin also shows a few other tools:

National Geographic has posted an interview with Kenji Yamaguchi in their PROOF feature. Many photographers will not be familiar with his name, but he has played a crucial role in many of the iconic wildlife images of our time. Originally sent 32 years ago by Nikon to National Geographic to train the original technician, Yamaguchi has been repairing, modifying and creating the equipment used by National Geographic shooters in the field. (Image from Shutterstock).

Ikelite and Aquatica have announced that the former’s internal TTL strobe circuitry will be available on certain Aquatica housings going forward. This will allow TTL control of Ikelite’s DS series strobes with Aquatica housing, with the latter’s housing for the Canon EOS 7D Mark II being the first to offer this option. Ikelite’s DS series strobes have warm color temperatures that many photographers find pleasing for wide-angle photography.

Inventor, manufacturer and filmmaker Pawel Achtel shares his tests of the performance of cinema lenses behind flat and dome ports as well as the use of the Nikonos 15mm wide-angle lens. They were tested using a RED Epic camera in 5K mode, shooting Spatial Frequency Response charts underwater with the camera held in a rigid frame to ensure repeatable results.

As I write, super Typhoon Hagupit is finding landfall on the eastern coast of the Philippines. It is expected that the accompanying 120mph winds and storm surge are likely to wreak destruction to areas that are still recovering from the devastation wrought by Typhoon Haiyan a year ago. The authorities seem much better prepared this time, and it is hoped that the terrible loss of life that occurred last year will be avoided. Nevertheless, it is inevitable that there will be significant disruption and damage to properties. The Wetpixel community fervently hopes that if you are in the path of the storm, you and your loved ones are in a place of safety and that the the damage to your property and businesses is as limited as possible. You are in our thoughts and prayers.

In an unusual twist of fate, the famed Charles Darwin Research Station of the Galapagos Islands may close by the end of the year due to failure to adapt with the times. The legacy of the research station may rest in the hands of donors as the lab is asking for nearly one million dollars in donations prior to the end of the year. Scientists claim the closure of the gift shop left them in this dire predicament.